Geode GX-MMX install/startup problems - fixed

paulcsf · Last edited by paulcsf on Mon Aug 13, 2007 2:21 am; edited 1 time in total

I am having problems sorting our a startup/install problem.

I followed the X86 handbook install instructions mostly to a t. The only major difference that I see in what is intended and what I did is that I installed to a harddrive in a computer that is not the end target. IE I used my desktop computer, with Gentoo minimal install CD and installed a system to a hard drive. However, the hard drive is going to be used/booted from a AMD Geode GX LE363 embedded computer. Incidentally, anybody have experience with the LE363 board?

Pertinent details: Gentoo 2.6.21-gentoo-r4. X86 2007.0 minimal cd.

So, I create the system.

I move the hard drive to the embedded system and boot it. It starts, and seems to work for a period of time. I don't know for sure if it's me screwing around with the network stuff that causes it to crash or if it's time related or something else...

Anyway, it will eventually crash. I get what I believe to be a system dump, with kernel/stack trace.

Then when I reboot the system, it always starts uncompressing linux, then reports "crc error, system halted".

If I take the hard drive and put it back in the desktop computer, /dev/hda1, /boot, comes up with an error, not having been properly un-mounted. Then back to the embedded computer and all is fine until it crashes again.

Thanks in advance for any ideas.

Paul

widan

paulcsf · Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2007 5:08 pm Post subject:

Thanks for the suggestions.

I did some more digging and here is where I am at.

A second board behaves similarly, though it crashes in different locations yet. The backtrace seems to be different each time, though most of the time the system will continue so it doesn't stay on the screen for long.

I replaced the ram with an identical module, with no luck. It shouldn't be overheating, the Geode is designed to run fanless, and it does have a good sized heat sink. It gets warm, but you can still touch it.

I didn't confirm this, but if I shut the system down without power, and wait about 10 seconds, it seems to clear the uncompressing linux - crc error problem. That indicates to me that it's not the file system on the hard drive. I suppose it may still be the hard drive, or something else in hardware.

I also get segmentation faults when I try to emerge anything.

Does any of this bring any other suggestions to mind? Thanks again.

Dagoo · n00b Joined: 20 Jul 2007 Posts: 7 Location: Boston, MA

Did you make sure to use build options appropriate for the target geode rather than the host system?

paulcsf · Posted: Mon Aug 13, 2007 2:21 am Post subject: It's solved...

Thank you all again for the help.

Turns out the speed grade of the ram wasn't sufficient. Don't know why the board manufacturer couldn't spec that. DDR400 vs DDR266.

I finally found it by accident, changing bios settings, including the clock rates. When I cut the processor clock rate in half, it started working nicely.

I also got a Knoppix cd, which has memtest86 v1.65, and it ran successfully at half clock speed, but failed at the higher clock speed. It would pass a few minutes worth of tests, then start to fail, which just happens to match very closely with what I was seeing booting my image.